


Al(l)one

by starxkissed



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Magic, Alternate Universe - Royalty
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-09
Updated: 2019-08-13
Packaged: 2020-08-16 02:49:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20170600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starxkissed/pseuds/starxkissed
Summary: "Nevertheless we met on thirteen different paths and eventually . . . A complete bond has formed leading us to our brightest moment."Whatever Chan had been expecting, it wasn't this.





	1. Origin : Dino

Lee Chan had spent seven out of sixteen years of his life perfecting his magic so that he would be able to join a guild and become the strongest knight in the history of the country. His parents had approved, if only to gain honor for the family.

Funnily enough, Chan never had a close relationship with his parents. His father was a merchant who constantly traveled the country, rarely stopping by his hometown to check up on little Chan. Chan’s mother no longer wanted to live with Chan when he reached the age of four and still hadn’t manifested his powers. She still lived in town, but Chan didn’t seek her out nor vice versa.

Chan had heard of the powerful knights who protected the country when he was five. Awed and inspired, Chan wished that he would get his powers soon because all the other kids already had their powers, and he didn’t want to fall behind. 

“When I have my powers,” Chan said to his class, “I’ll be the greatest knight and protect everyone!” 

Chan remembers one kid saying, “My mom says that Chan’s never going to have powers, so he’s never gonna be a knight.”

“Yeah!” another kid yelled. “That’s because I’m gonna be the best knight!”

“No-“

“Thank you, Chan, for being original, and instead of saying, ‘I want to be a knight,’ you said, ‘I want to be the greatest knight!’ Does anyone in this room  _ not  _ want to be a knight when they grow up?”

A lone kid raised their hand.

“Yes, Minhyuk?”

“When I grow up, I want to be the king!” Minhyuk said with vigor.

The teacher breathed out a long sigh and pinched her nose. “Minhyuk, you can only be king if you are in his royal family. Are you a part of the king’s family?”

“No . . . “

“Well,” the usually annoyed teacher said with a surprisingly gentle tone as she crushed the kid’s dream, “What else would you like to be?”

“If I can’t be a king, then I’ll be a knight!” Minhyuk cheered as the rest of the class joined in.

The teacher sighed and made a gesture that looked like she was strangling herself.

Chan looked on thoughtfully. What if he didn’t get his powers at all? He would have to find some other way to be a knight. He would just have to be physically strong, strong enough to fight against someone who had powers and  _ win. _

Chan pushed himself to his limits and then beyond that. He trained by himself and in classes. He even begged the local dance studio to give him classes so that he could practice his footwork. Chan was growing at an incredible rate. His potential never seemed to end, and he was hungry to learn more.

Sometimes he was too hungry.

Chan stretched his arms wide with a small yawn. If class had gone by any slower, they would have been going back in time. The afternoon sun beat down on the nine-year-old as he walked back to his house. A soft breeze ruffled Chan’s hair, and a few birds twittered above his head. That was the first sign that something was wrong for the birds were usually peaceful.

The second came in the form of a smiling man (no one ever smiled at Chan because he didn’t have any powers). The man was short and had a bit of a bulge for a stomach. He leaned against the ivy-covered wall at the very edge of the property line to Chan’s house and was dressed in all black despite the sweltering sun.

As Chan approached, the man stood straight.

“Can I help you, sir?” Chan asked curiously. 

The man smiled but in a strange way. Chan felt uneasiness crawl up his spine. The birds chirped louder, their rose quartz and serenity colored feathers glinting in the sun. He took a step back with caution.

The man held up his hands as if he were surrendering. “Oh! I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to frighten you,” he spoke with a soft voice. “I was just asking around, and I heard from your neighbors that you are a hard worker.”

Chan eyed the man, looking him up and down. “I guess so,” he murmured, but then straightened. “I just want to make my dream a reality,” he said in a more confident tone because knights did not defer to anyone.

“Let me guess,” the man said, holding up his hands. “You want to be a knight, right?”

With a vice-like grip, Chan grabbed the straps of his backpack. “How did you know?”

“Oh please, it’s almost every kid’s dream. But you know, you have to be  _ really  _ powerful to be a knight. What’s your power?”

Chan blushed and looked to the side. Once he said that he didn’t have any power, the stranger would laugh at him and say that you couldn’t become a knight without magic. It happens every time, and while Chan was prepared for it, he still didn’t want to hear it.

“I . . . I don’t have any magic,” Chan said, ashamed. The one fact made everything in his life hard for him. His teachers treated him like a piece of glass for it, he didn’t have any friends because of it, and his own mother left him because of it. “I don’t have any magic,” Chan repeated. “But that just means that I have to work harder than anyone else to be a knight.”

“I believe you can still be a knight.”

Chan raised his eyes to meet the stranger’s slowly. He blinked at the man. Saying he was shocked would be an understatement.

“What?”

“I believe you can be a knight. Do you know why?”

Chan shook his head. He couldn’t believe it. This man was the only person who believed in him. For so long, everyone thought he was a failure. But this man put his faith into Chan. And Chan, for once, truly believed that he could become a knight.

The man smiled again. “Because I can give you magic.”

That . . . was not what Chan had been expecting. He made a small, confused noise at the back of his throat. How could this man give Chan power? 

But if he just had magic, it would be so much easier to become a knight. Maybe this man could help him.

“You can give me magic?” 

“Yes. All I need to know is your name.”

Chan bit his lip, barely holding in his anticipation before something his teacher once said suddenly popped into his mind.

“I really want to have magic, sir, but my teacher said that I shouldn’t give out my name to strangers. I can’t remember exactly why . . . but she just said to not do it.” Chan felt disappointment well up in his chest. If only the man wasn’t a stranger, then he could have magic. But his teacher said it was  _ really  _ important that he didn’t just give out his name randomly.

The smile melted off the man’s face. “Well, my name is Hyunsuk. So now that you know my name, why don’t you tell me yours.”

Chan gnawed on his lip to prevent himself from giving into the man. “Hyunsuk-ssi, I don’t think you should randomly give out your name either.” Chan wrung his fingers, crossing and uncrossing them, picking at his nails. “I really want magic, but I’m sorry. I can’t give out my name.”

Hyunsuk looked down, his bangs shadowing his eyes. “Is that your final decisions? I promise I will help you to become the greatest knight.”

“I’m sorry, Hyunsuk-ssi. I can’t.”

Hyunsuk’s shoulders dropped and he sighed. “Look, kid. I didn’t want to do this, but you leave me no other choice.”

Chan froze, his breath hiccupping in his throat. Fear snaked its way through his body, paralyzing him. “Wh-What do you mean, Hyunsuk-ssi?” Chan hated the way his voice quavered and stuttered because knights did not show their fear. Ever.

Hyunsuk continued his monologue clacking his tongue. “You’re a pretty cute kid, and I wouldn’t have worked you too hard. In fact, you would have probably been my favorite.”

Eyes wide with fear, Chan gazed at Hyunsuk.

Hyunsuk finally looked up, startling Chan. He had a nasty glint in his murky, brown colored irises. Chan felt something change in the air. There was an overwhelming thickness in the air, making Chan struggle to breathe in. The sky, a brilliant blue painting, suddenly appeared stained with reds and blacks. Chan’s legs failed to respond to him and stayed glued to the ground. He could hear everything and nothing all at once. Chan felt complete and unadulterated fear.

The birds scattered. This was the first time Chan had experienced bloodlust.

Hyunsuk began to change before his eyes. His arms became encased in a dull, purple rock with jagged edges. His body seemed to expand with the same rock, becoming a hulking giant before Chan’s small body. Hyunsuk opened his mouth to expose glinting, purple teeth, and Chan vaguely recognized the stone as corundum, a nearly impossible rock to scratch.

The monster that was Hyunsuk reached out his hand towards Chan. In his paralyzed state, the boy made no move to run away. Chan’s neck felt rough fingers lift him off the ground and into the air, preventing oxygen from reaching his lungs. Chan kicked and punched desperately, his hits only meeting hard rock.

“Say it. Say your name!” Hyunsuk growled, an inhuman quality added to his voice. 

Chan gasped, eyes watering. He was going to die here, a kid with no powers and no family. A nobody. He couldn’t protect anyone let alone himself. A tear slipped down his cheek and he began to stop fighting. He was alone.

“Say the name!”

_ Say the name . . . I’m not even worthy of my own name _ .

Chan closed his eyes, embracing the darkness.

_ No . . . _

_ . _

_ . _

_ . _

_ “Do not be blinded by the illusion in front of you but follow the truth inside of it” _

What? Who was that? What truth and what illusion?

Wait. Think. Everything Hyunsuk was was an illusion, but he had truth within his words. You couldn’t be respected if you didn’t have any power, but Hyunsuk was the wrong way to get it. An illusion Hyunsuk put up.

He’s rolled the dice over and over again, but nothing will change going back to the start every time. He won’t go anywhere. The dice . . . were an illusion he followed. If he kept rolling, he wouldn’t be taking a chance because he already knew the outcome. But if he didn’t roll . . . he could be free.

So what to do? Logically he would roll “taking a chance” and tell Hyunsuk his name. Or don’t . . . and not tell Hyunsuk his name, taking an even bigger risk? 

But why should he anyways. He was alone and no one wanted him. He didn’t amount to anything. Wouldn’t it be better to just let Hyunsuk take him?

_ "Even though you are being alone, remember we are on your side and don't be afraid of all the fears you have" _

_ . _

_ . _

_ . _

“My name is Dino!” Chan gasped out. Hyunsuk released dropped him. Chan took deep breaths in and out, rubbing his throat now littered with cuts and bruises.

Hyunsuk laughed insanely. “You stupid brat,” he grinned. “Death would have been better than what’s about to come next.”

Chan should have felt powerless. He didn’t have any magic, after all, and once Hyunsuk found out that Dino wasn’t his actual name, he would be dead for sure. But, something inside him gave him a sense of calm and warmth. He felt as though he was not alone.

Hyunsuk paused for a second, concentrating. Suddenly he pounded his fists on the ground, sending pavement flying through the air. “Why isn’t this working?!” he screamed. 

Chan shielded his face to block the incoming debris. The small motion made Hyunsuk turn to look towards Chan.

“You,” he growled. “You have one last chance to tell me your name.”

Chan stood tall and proud, an aura radiating from his body.

“No.”

“Then die!” Hyunsuk swung his armored fist at the small boy with incredible force, but Chan was not phased. Hyunsuk waited for his fist to make contact. The moment it did, Hyunsuk’s fist shattered, splintering into a million pieces.

Hyunsuk’s eyes widened in shock. Almost nothing could break his armor! Nothing except . . . 

_ Diamond. _

Chan stood encased in a glass-like sheathing, shimmering in the sun. He looked at his hands and then up at Hyunsuk. Then with the form he had practiced for four years, Chan sprinted to the astounded Hyunsuk, and threw a punch so hard that it broke through the corundum armor and snapped a few ribs.

Chan remembered what his teacher had said.

_ “Don’t you ever give out your name to strangers! Make sure they are trustworthy first, and even then, only tell them a nickname. If you say your real name, then that person might steal your soul and make you their slave for whatever they want!” _

From that day on, Chan learned fear less because he didn’t feel alone.

For the next seven years, Chan pushed and broke his limits, making him stronger and stronger, and by the time he was sixteen, he had told his mother and father that he was off to join a guild of knights.

His mother gave him a small and disinterested wave saying, “You’ll be back before long.” Chan only grinned, taking it as a challenge.

His father, on one of the rare occasions that he came back to town, had said something along the lines of, “Make sure you get strong and make lots of money. Send some back when you do.” Then he had asked Chan to produce a diamond to sell on his travels.

And so, here Chan was, standing upon the grounds of a guild, soaking in magical aura and taking a look at his competitors.

He was sure he could take them all.


	2. ! Start ! (Part 1)

Lee Chan had spent seven out of sixteen years of his life perfecting his magic so that he would be able to join a guild and become the strongest knight in the history of the country. He had been hailed as one of the strongest people in his hometown, even when he was so young. 

So why was he getting down on his knees and scrubbing the floor like a maid?

Let’s take it back a bit, shall we?

When Chan arrived at the guild at 7:55 in the morning, he found a crowd loitering outside the wood doors. Today was the day the guild Seventeen would allow applicants for new members, and although Chan had been expecting competition, he never imagined that this many people would be there.

Actually, the guild base itself wasn’t what he had imagined. It was built inside a cliff with the front jutting out and tapering at the end. A huge set of wooden doors made up the part farthest away from the cliff. The cliff face was beautiful. It was as if someone had cut a rock in half, finding that the inside was marble with delicate, swirling patterns.

The person next to him fidgeted nervously, hands trembling. Chan felt the same and sympathetically glanced their way, but if you wanted to be a knight, you couldn’t show fear, especially to other knights, which Chan assumed they were about to meet.

At exactly eight o’ clock, the doors slowly opened, and Chan felt his muscles tense in anticipation. The doors led to a dark, gaping cavern, the light being swallowed up by the shadows. The magical aura was strong and sent a chill up the applicants’ spine as if to warn off intruders. Chan waited for someone to come out and guide the applicants, but no one did.

It suddenly hit Chan. This was the first test.

Chan gently pushed his way through the crowd who still stared at the entrance. Chan approached it. He took a step forward. And began walking through the darkness.

From an outsiders point of view, Chan must have looked brave with steely eyes as he walked toward the darkness that screamed danger. Chan might not have been the biggest person out there, but his aura was strong and seemed to protect him from that of the looming tunnel.

However, Chan’s vision swirled with black spots. Was he supposed to be doing this, or was he breaking the rules of the test? What if he wasn’t able to join the guild? No, no that couldn’t happen. He was certain he would join the guild no matter what.

It gave him a small sense of reassurance when other footsteps began to echo through the stone halls. That and the small prick of light at the end of the tunnel.

The small light began to grow and grow and grow until Chan suddenly found himself in a . . . bar?

At least, it looked like a bar. There was a counter with a whole wall of wine bottles stacked on top of one another behind it with stools. The room itself was quite small with a single, yet large, table taking up most of the space in front of the bar.

“Oh my god, it took you guys forever to come inside!” an exasperated voice sounded. A head popped up from behind the counter of the bar revealing someone who couldn’t have been a year older than Chan. He hopped on top of the counter and crossed one leg over the other. Raising a brow, he said, “Well, what are you standing there for? We don’t have all day, come in!”

Slightly confused and a little annoyed, Chan made his way towards the ends of the room, where the other boy was sitting. It seemed that he was waiting for something, so Chan took the time to size him up. The guy had soft features and big eyes that did nothing to compliment the resting bitch face he had on at the moment. His slumped shoulders and unimpressed stare made Chan feel like the boy was at home.

Nothing about the boy stood out in any way, so Chan was confused as to why someone so young was lounging around a _ guild _with seemingly no purpose and ordering the applicants around as if they were completely inferior.

Chan felt his blood boil at the thought. He felt certain he could take on the brat picking at his nails without even a trace of an aura. If Chan couldn’t even sense someone’s aura, he was certain they were weaker than the kids back home.

The boy sitting on the counter looked up, a sudden interest making his eyes sparkle. 

“Is that everyone that can fit in the room?” he called out. When a few nods of heads and grunts of affirmations sounded out, he clapped his hands together cheerfully. “In that case, everyone who is not standing in the room, please make your way back out of the tunnel and go outside.”

Murmurs broke out outside of the room.

“Is this a part of the test?” someone in the back yelled.

“Yeah, why are we being separated. Shouldn’t everyone take the same test?”

“Hey, that isn’t fair!”

Chan rolled his eyes at the complaints and whines. The people should just do as the boy said. It was way too crowded anyways, and the boy seemed too weak and innocent to try and mislead a hoard of powerful applicants.

Chan looked on curiously to see what the boy would do next with so many applicants unwilling to follow his instructions. To his surprise, the guy grit his teeth with a vein almost popping out of his forehead.

In an attempt to keep calm, the boy tried again. “As I said before, if you are not in the room, please make your way outside. If not, I’m afraid we will have to use force.”

“At least tell us why we have to go outside!”

“Yeah! You’re making it seem like some people have an unfair advantage!”

“Why are _ you _ even here, anyways? Shouldn’t a _ real _knight be telling us this, Fatty?”

Alright, Chan thought that the boy sitting on the counter was bratty, rude, and cocky. But that was a bit uncalled for, especially when the man who yelled the comment out weighed at least 250 pounds, all fat. Besides, his aura even _ smelled _weak to Chan.

There was a long pause after that. Chan felt the need to defend the boy, but didn’t want to speak out. Curse his stupid, reserved nature for not being able to protect someone, even if it was only from mean words!

Chan made a small noise in the back of his throat, but the second he opened his mouth, the boy on the counter exploded - not literally, mind you.

“Hey! You’re over there weighing, what? 3,000 pounds? And _ you’re _ calling _ me _ Fatty?! Alright, I’ve had it up to here with you brats!” The boy took a deep breath in. “You want to know the reason why some of you have to go outside? Fine! It’s because you failed! All applicants outside the room were too late. You blindly followed everyone else in your little space of comfort in your head. Well let me tell you! You cannot become a knight if you stay in your comfort zone. The people outside this room were simply not brave enough to just step forward! Is it really even that hard? _ Oh my god _ \- “

“Don’t say, ‘Oh my god.’” 

A muffled scream followed by a, “How the hell did you get there?!” rang throughout the room.

Another boy mysteriously appeared by the doors of the room, hooded eyes and a lax stance making him seem completely unphased by the disturbance around him.

Chan was embarrassed to admit that the new boy’s sudden entrance threw him off guard, but he watched on silently.

“Anyways, what he said was right. If you’re not in the room right now, you’ve failed. You may try again in seventeen months.”

Everyone stood shocked for a moment before -

“Who are you to order us around? Another wannabe knight with no authority whatsoever?”

The boy at the counter let out a small laugh and shook his head. “Thanks for the help, Vern. I think I’ll just take out the trash now.”

The boy made a small pushing gesture with his hand. Chan had little time to see the applicants standing outside the door fly back towards the entrance of the tunnel before the doors slammed shut with a loud _ thud _.

Chan’s eyes widened, and he uncrossed his arms. This guy had a lot more magical power than he initially let on.

The boy stood on top of the counter and placed his hands on his hips. “Listen up, you moronic degenerates,” he began. “My name is Boo and that guy over there is Vernon. We are the knights of this guild who have been selected to scope out applicants. So just keep in mind that if you want to join this guild, you better be showing your best around the two of us! Now, let’s get to work.”

And that’s how Chan found himself scrubbing the floor ten minutes later, after Boo had assigned the rest of the applicants basic chores.

Boo had led him and five other people into a separate room to clean. This room looked more like a hotel lobby and an actual entrance than the “Bar Room” did. Chan couldn’t help but wonder how much it cost to create this place. Directly in front of them was a marble staircase that led up to who knows where, splitting into a right and left side as it met the back wall. Countless armchairs, couches, and coffee tables littered the floor, and the room was lit with a warm glow from a glittering chandelier (Chan recognized that it was made out of diamonds).

Still staring in awe, Chan almost didn’t realize Boo throwing him a rag and setting down a bucket.

Boo crossed his arms and tapped his fingers. “The six of you have to wipe down and clean this floor before the hour is up.”

Dumbfounded, a girl, looking like she was a noble’s child, the protected little thing, looked up at Boo.

“You expect believe that cleaning your floors is a test worthy of a knight?” she exclaimed, face reddening and gesturing wildly. “I shall not be doing mere chores, for I am royalty.” Chan thought that the girl certainly appeared to be royalty with an extravagant dress and an exotic accent. However, many royals didn’t bother with knights claiming that the knights were supposed to protect the nobles themselves.

Boo waved his hand absentmindedly. “Yes, yes, but if you expect to be a part of this guild, I’m afraid you will be wiping up the floors every other day.” He sauntered toward an armchair and plopped down unceremoniously. “Besides, cleaning this entire room in under an hour is no joke! I barely even get it done sometimes.”

The girl stamped the heel of her iron-tipped boot down so hard, it cracked. “I will not tolerate this!” she exclaimed, clenching her fists. “I will not be made a peasant today nor any day!”

Chan half expected Boo to explode again, but it seemed as though all his energy had been drained. Boo pinched his nose and let out a deep sigh.

“Yah, Kim Jennie. Don’t you have a guild to run? Or are you going solo?” Wait, Chan thought, his mind refusing to work for a few seconds. _ The _ Kim Jennie? The famous female knight, known for completing some of the highest ranked missions with her guild, Blackpink? _ That _Kim Jennie?

Jennie’s face changed to one of amusement rather than anger. “Ah, I probably should be getting back soon. I just wanted to scope out future competition, you know?”

Boo sighed, looking resigned. “If you weren’t my sunbaenim, I would lecture you, but whatever. You owe us for breaking our floor. Now go suck face with Kai-sunbaenim or something.”

“Boo! How did you even know?”

“Dispatch is everywhere. Never forget that.”

With that, the revered knight Kim Jennie walked out of the room and disappeared into the dark hallway, leaving the remaining five applicants staring on in shock and one knight giving his temples a massage.

“Aish, that woman. Hey! Get to work. You’re down to fifty minutes!”

With a groan, Chan bent down on his knees and began to scrub the floor. The floor was actually quite nice, wooden with a caramel hue. There was hardly a speck of dust to be seen, and he was certain he would be able to see his reflection in the boards if there hadn’t been so much fur covering them. Seriously, the hair was scattered so there wasn’t one clear patch of space, but spread thinly enough that you could spot an obvious sheen between the fine strands.

With a grunt, Chan muttered under his breath, “How many dogs do you guys own?”

The question had really only been meant for Chan’s ears, but Boo’s voice made his posture go stiff and straight.

“We don’t have dogs, actually,” Boo called from his place on his chair. “I guess you could say that three cats live here, though.”

Boo’s statement actually perked Chan up. He always wanted a pet, especially a cat, but they were always high maintenance. It seriously sucked that if his teachers had a class pet, it was something lame like a tarantula, lizard, or stuffed animal. It also didn’t help that every single class pet he got to take home ended up dying before he could return it back to its cage at school.

Chan actually had to say that he was a little scared of Boo. The guy obviously had power and knew how to use it, considering he was a knight himself. He had completely underestimated the other and now saw the power he had. And in all honesty, it really irked Chan that he might not be the best at something. He had to be the best, no matter what. It just felt like Boo was competition, and to Chan, if a person was competition, they were an obstacle, and therefore, he couldn’t find it in himself to like them even if they were the most likable person on the planet (which Boo definitely wasn’t).

So Chan surprised himself when he found that he and Boo talked comfortably with each other.

“Really? I’ve always wanted cats, but I never had enough money for it.”

“Yeah, I guess you could say that those cats have been around longer than I’ve been in the guild, but we all love them the same. We have this one Siamese cat, who is the most adorable thing on the whole planet, but he gets mad whenever I say that and doesn’t let me pet him.”

“Wow. I heard that Siamese cats usually get super attached to one person in a household and then ignore everyone else.”

“That’s . . . pretty spot on actually.”

“Yeah! What other - “

“You!” a shrill voice screamed, cutting off Chan’s next sentence. Chan swiveled his head, honing in on the person who had disturbed the peace and Chan’s shot at connecting with a knight.

The person who had yelled out was a woman, young, fresh, and looking exactly like a demon as the red velvet of her dress took on a splotch of maroon down the front. The bucket of water was tipped over at her feet. And on the ground next to the bucket, the nervous young man from outside the doors was bent over crouching, his eyes wide. He stayed frozen, as though anyone move he made would cost him days of abuse from the demon above him.

The room had gone deathly silent, the familiar buzz of human presence long gone.

“You,” she repeated.

The man trembled, and before Chan had even thought to ask what was wrong, he felt it too. It was the same feeling he had felt years ago when his powers manifested. His hands clenched and unclenched, a nervous habit he had picked up. A bead of sweat rolled down his forehead. His eyes began to shake.

He felt afraid. Again.

The woman’s killing intent increased tenfold as she slowly lowered her head down to look at the man groveling at her shoes.

“What is your name?” she asked, deathly calm as if her outburst before had never happened.

The man looked up, not meeting her eyes. Chan, still frozen in his spot on the floor hoped with all his heart that the man would not say his real name.

“My name is Dokyeom, DK for short.”

The woman smiled a cold, bone-chilling smile. Chan knew it meant that the man only had one more chance.

_ Do something, _ Chan thought to himself through his panicked state of mind. _ If you can’t protect this person, how could you ever call yourself a knight? _

“I . . . I’m sorry. I can’t tell you my name.”

Chan could feel Boo tense up, preparing to handle the situation if it got to far.

_ Do something, do something, do something. _

“Of course you can. But if you won’t tell me willingly, then I’ll just force it out!” The woman slowly opened her mouth, making it wide. And then wider. And then it was too wide. Her jaw was completely unhinged and her head tilted back, facing towards the ceiling. Chan saw her stick her tongue out. Except her tongue kept growing and growing and growing. And then it hissed.

A snake just came out of the woman’s mouth.

_ Come on, dude. Just use your powers! Snakes aren’t so bad, just take them out! Surely you’re strong enough to do that! _ But Chan could tell that the man wouldn’t. The second he had looked into the snake’s eyes, the man hadn’t moved a muscle. _ He’s paralyzed with fear, _Chan recognized.

The snake slithered out of the woman’s mouth and curled itself around her hand, its head inches away from DK’s nose.

“Now tell me _ your name _.”

“I-I my name is Lee -”

“No!”

A shout, a whistle through the air, and a disgusting, squelching noise.

The snake’s head fell to the floor first, its body unwinding from the arm and following soon after. A diamond blade had pinned itself to the back of an armchair, glinting in the sunlight and refracting rose quartz and serenity hues through it.

The woman turned her head to glance at the blade. She remained expressionless. “Boy,” she said. “Is this yours?”

Chan swallowed and cracked his neck. “Of course it is.”

“You don’t know who you are, do you?”

Despite himself, Chan smiled. “I know who I am. I’m the person who will defeat you and bring you to jail for an attempt at a soul-stealing.”

“No, I didn’t think you did.” The woman swept back her long, chestnut brown hair. “It seems that this is the way I must go.”

“What do you mean?” Chan asked, confused but cautious.

“The future. The future has come.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! I'd like to communicate with you guys to see how this is going and whether you like it or not, so please give me lots of feedback on how I can improve!


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